the canyon first and check out later. Filled the car with gas after I figured out where the release was for the little gas door. Picked up a winter hat and some gloves as it was freezing.The Attendant asked where I was from and when he learned I was from Canada said 'oh this must be nice for you' I said 'no it was cold... it hadn't even snowed inEdmonton yet' and he was quite shocked. 
Told me that this was their second snowfall so far this year! Drove through the dark to get to the canyon for sunrise just hoping that it would be clear. I figured that as the stars were shining the odds were good of a nice clear view today. Went up to the village and drove around looking for a parking spot.
I felt a little pressure as I wanted to get a real sunrise shot and figured I might miss it if I couldn't find a spot to park. Finally found one nice and close to the lookout. Left my purse in the trunk as I didn't think that I would be needing it to take pictures and left in a hurry to get some great shots.The sun was just coming up and it was spectacular!
I have seen many pictures of of the grand canyon , in movies and magazines, books and pictures but , I can tell you, nothing is better than real life. There were quite a few early risers out taking photos. Some Japanese tourists asked me to take their photo. I asked a young couple to take my video after they had asked me to take their photo.
Everyone was very happy and excited to see the canyon as most had been there the afternoon before when you couldn't see anything.
One poor woman was sad as her batteries had just died.
I walked around for about an hour and decided to grab a cup of tea. the bright Angel hotel has a restaurant and I popped in there.
after having ordered some tea and a light breakfast I remembered that my purse was still in the car!
I asked where the washroom was and walked as quickly as I could safely do so( it was very slippery in parts) back to the car, drove it to the restaurant, parked about a half block away and rushed back in where they had been keeping by breakfast warm for me.
I don't know what they thought I was doing in the bathroom for that long.
It was a very nice breakfast. had a nice conversation with a some folks a t the next table and found out that the Bright Angel trail was right outside the restaurant. I did not go down the trail as I was concerned about slipping on the snow and ice.
I headed back to the hotel to check out. My plans were to go to Aunt Doris's but as I left the canyon I saw a sign for the Grand Canyon Caverns, depending on where they might be , I thought maybe I could squeeze them in to my trip.
the sun was shining, the roads were clear and pretty much empty of traffic. it was a lovely day. At 9 am I left the hills and went out onto the flat lands.
Turned west at hwy 40 and
through this little hamlet of Rte
66 motels and cafes including, I believe, the original Road Kill Cafe!
Some of the shops? were decorated in odd ways.
I did not stop but proceeded to go to the Seligman turnoff
There was a cafe/gas/gift shop where the lady behind the counter of the rather full little gift shop told me that Rte 66 was a lovely drive and the Caverns were only 17 miles up the road. So off I went along Rte 66 with thoughts of cookie and corvettes and 77 sunset strip running through my head.
That was when I saw the first of the old Burma shave signs.
I laughed out loud. and kept an eye out for the next set so that i could get a pic. Found the turnoff for the caverns easily and after about 10 minutes of not a great road came into a parking area with another turnoff for the stables which were closed and a restaurant which was not.
I proceeded into the nearly empty building , found the gift shop with its three customers and enquired about the cavern tours.
They started at 12 noon so I had half an hour to wait. I bought my token and went outside to see what I could see. I saw old cars and bikes and a flash of blue.
what was that? it was my first ever in person blue bird and after a little bit of following him around he posed for me so prettily.
Very exciting!
I went back inside and picked up a Rte 66 T-shirt (I couldn't find one with a car so had to settle for one with a bike) and hat and a few other souvenirs and brought them out to the car. then went in for the tour. I wasn't sure if I could go down into the cavern as I have never been in a cave in my life.
but my concerns were allayed when upon entering the elevator and going down 200 feet my heart rate and breathing remained calm and I did not have an anxiety attack like Mom did when she tried to go into the carlsbad caverns.
The tour took about 50 minutes and we walked all through the cavern with our guide Jerry giving us lots of information all the way.
He never stopped talking I swear. Most of the information was good but he included some rather bad jokes about caves, wind tunnels and dogs called rocky.
Interesting things were the beginning as of the caverns as a tourist attraction.
Seems the first owner of the cavern thought that he had found gold and bought a whole lot of land surrounding the cavern.
His luck was not with him though but to recoup some of his costs he started charging people 25 cents to get lowered down 120 feet by rope! if that had been the tour I would not have gone. But he survived the depression and the cave has always been in private hands with only three owners.
The cavern is a shelter setup during the cuban missile crisis with all of the stores from then still there. they say that because the cavern is so dry with a constant temperature of about 67 degrees the stores will last indefinitely but I don't think that I could eat them.
He showed us the bedroom that you can stay overnight in for only $700 a night, the bobcat that had fallen into the cavern so long ago that it mummified. Nothing lives in the cavern as it is dry.
There are lots of caves where bats live but only a few dry caverns in the US. they found out that the air which was surprisingly fresh comes all the way from the grand canyon through underground crevices.
There was the extinct giant ground sloth which surprised me all to death, not expecting that at all but still very cool to see.
It was a model of the real one that they found in the cave when they first explored it. some local university came and got the bones and made the model for the cave.
We went down tunnels into large open caverns and up tunnels to more large caverns.
It was very interesting and through it all Jerry talked. We all realized that if we had any questions he would answer them at the end of the tour so we stopped trying to ask them. It was worth the price of the ticket. the best part of the tour though, was when we got off the elevator at ground level.
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